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COPYRIGHT DEPGSm 







AND HOW TO WIN IT 



A Le<!lure and Course 
of Twenty- four & & 

Success Lessons 

Given by &t. Austin to 
His Summer Classes 
and thru the pages of 
««R>E ASON' », His 
Monthly Magazine <& -^ 



BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A., D. D. 



PRICE 25 Cents 



THE AUSTIN PUBLISHING CO., 
GENEVA, N. Y. 




A Lecflure on Success 
and How to Win It and 
a Course of Twenty-four 

LESSONS 

given by Dr. Austin to 
His Summer Classes and 
thru his Monthly Maga- 
zine, "REASON"^^ 



BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A., D. D, 



THE AUSTIN PUBLISHING CO. 
GENEVA, N. Y. 



-?6"9 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

JUN 3 1904 

Cooyrleht Entry 

ft/leu** 7. W - lt\ O «f 
CLASS^ CC XXo. No. 

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6oPY B 




COPYRIGHT, 1904, 
BY B. F. AUSTIN. 



SUCCESS 

AND HOW TO WIN IT 

Substance of a lecture given in First 
Spiritual Church, Buffalo, May 9th, 1904, 
and published by request. 



BY B. F. AUSTIN. 



What is Success? 

Many will doubtless consider the discussion of a 
theme like this on Sunday as a desecration of religious 
service. Religion — so-called — has so long been con- 
sidered by the preacher and the theologian as a "prep- 
aration for death" rather than for life, as having to 
do with man's soul and its salvation rather than with 
the body and its needs, as consisting in belief of hair- 
splitting metaphysics rather than the practice of jus- 
tice; mercy, truth and sterling common sense, that 
practical questions in the pulpit have been ignored in 
behalf of a theology that has been dead for half a 
century and should be buried out of sight. 

Today men submit religion to a practical test and 
when asked to embrace it and support it they nat- 
urally inquire, "What benefit will it bring me if I 
do?" Unless religion can give men something of 
strength in weakness, help in difficulty, comfort in 
sorrow, guidance in perplexity — unless it can help to 
make life successful, men will throw it entirely over- 
board as a useless encumbrance from the past. 

This, then, is one of the many practical and per- 
tinent questions that should be discussed in a truly 



4 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

religious service, and if all pulpits and rostrums had 
able and intelligent exponents of the problem, "How 
to Live Aright this Present Life," there would be 
fewer objections to religion as a theme having no rela- 
tion to practical life and connected only with death 
and eternity. 

Before entering upon the practical question, "How 
to Win Success," it will be well for us to form definite 
and correct views of what constitutes a successful 
life. 

It is quite evident that a life may be successful from 
one standpoint and a failure from another. A life 
may be a financial success and an educational failure. 
A woman may be a social success, a leader of fashion, 
and may fail in developing a lofty and noble charac- 
ter. A young man may have success in teaching or 
in the fine arts, and fail in business. As a rule, however, 
ability in any one line proves ability for other lines of 
activity if equal effort and determination be exerted, 
and success in any line of endeavor is more or less a 
qualification for success in other fields of activity. 

There are three things men generally associate in 
their thoughts with a successful life. They are achieve- 
ment, power and triumph. The life of great achieve- 
ment is accounted a successful life — the life that in- 
cludes the doing of great deeds. Then the life that 
manifests great power and force — the life that results 
in strong, symmetrical and beautiful character, consti- 
tuting its possessor a leader of men, a magnet which 
attracts and holds men and directs and shapes the 
lives of others, we account a successful life. 

Again, a life is successful that triumphs over diffi- 
culties through the possession of the passive virtues. 
Many lives are truly great and successful in their pow- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 5 

ers of resistance of the forces that would seemingly de- 
stroy them. In the ability to be peaceful and calm and 
patient amid the vicissitudes of life, to suffer and en- 
dure affliction and calamity and yet maintain one's 
faith and courage, there is real success, though it may 
not be so apparent to the world. 

The man who builds a pyramid, or a Colossus of 
Rhodes, or a Temple of Diana, or a St. Peter's of 
Rome, is counted successful through achievement. 
Every man who produces something useful or beauti- 
ful and generally desired by his fellows, is counted suc- 
cessful. If he can paint like Titian, or compose like 
Mozart, or dramatize like Shakespeare, or give 
forth "thoughts that breathe in words that burn," like 
Tennyson, or outline a new social structure like Henry 
George, or invent like Edison, he is surely counted suc- 
cessful. Ofttimes a single work of utility entitles a 
man to the claim of success, though his life in general 
may appear unfruitful. He who invented the sewing 
machine, the telegraph, the steam-boat, the bicycle, the 
phonograph; the man who wrote, "Home, Sweet 
Home," "The Star Spangled Banner," "The Marsel- 
laise," "Jesus Lover of My Soul," and similar pro- 
ductions, which have benefitted and cheered humanity, 
may well be counted successful. 

A life may be — often is — truly successful which does 
not boast of any great achievements. Opportunity does 
not come to all lives on this plane of existence to put 
forth the flower and fruitage of great achievements. 
Men and women are like trees in the nursery in dif- 
ferent stages of growth and advancement. Some trees 
are retarded by the nurseryman — not allowed to come 
into real flower and fruit. Some lives, yes many, be- 
come truly successful in the way of internal growth 



6 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

and development but not in the way of achievement 
or outward expression. 

Nature evidently intends this earthly life as a pre- 
paratory stage of growth, enlargement and develop- 
ment for the grander achievements of the next stage of 
existence. 

If this is true, no one ought to repine or despair if 
his life is not rich in great achievements. He ought 
not to be discouraged if the world generally does not 
count him a success. Perhaps in growth of intellec- 
tuality, spirituality and strength of character his life 
has been grandly successful. 

Indeed there is no real success without this inner de- 
velopment, this strength and beauty of character. The 
lives that are counted successful through achievements 
are, in fact, successful not through the achievements, 
but through the strength and wisdom and virtue of 
character that made the achievements possible. Achieve- 
ments are the fruits, the proofs, the outward demon- 
stration of that true success that always implies some 
attributes of lofty character. 

Real success, we maintain then, always implies de- 
velopment, growth, wisdom, patience, faith and love — 
the unfolding of the divine attributes of the soul — and 
where this evolution of our nature has taken place we 
need not despair if great achievements have not been 
made. 

If the statement of the Bible be correct that the 
man who rules his own spirit is greater than he who 
takes a city, who shall say that the possession and re- 
tention of faith, hope, patience and love amidst life's 
trying scenes, is not as great an achievement as the 
building of the lofty pyramid. May there not be a ma- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 7 

jestic structure of character as well as of bricks and 
granite? 

Let all our young friends then note the true stand- 
ard of success. Let them seek especially the growth 
and development of their own powers, not despising 
great achievements, not unduly valuing achievements 
which the world calls great, but looking on them as 
in truth no more, at best, than proofs of that spiritual 
unfoldment in which life's true success must always 
be found. 

How is Success Won? 

One great secret of success is found in Concentration. 
This consists in centering our thoughts upon a single 
object and holding this object in the mind's eye per- 
sistently. The thoughts, purposes, will power, • effort 
and resources of every life should be united in some 
single great object. A life unified, united, concen- 
trated, dominated by one great purpose, becomes 
mighty, while a life with a thousand diverging pur- 
poses must necessarily be weak. Gunpowder exploded 
in the open air is comparatively ineffective and harmless 
because the energy let loose takes a thousand different 
directions. So with the inherent energies of any life. 
Divide them and you weaken them. Unite them into 
one purpose, as the energy of gunpowder is united in 
the rifle barrel, and the effect is mighty. 

A little stream falling over the cliffs alone is weak- 
ness illustrated. Let it unite with a few hundred others 
and it cuts its way through the rocks and digs out a 
channel through the valley and sweeps resistlessly to 
the sea. A single sun ray injures nothing — not even 
the sensitive optic nerve. United with thousands of 
others in the burning glass and it sets fire to the edifice. 



8 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

A single strand of flax is easily broken but united with 
a hundred others it makes a cable to hold the ship. 

Most lives are weak and unsuccessful because they 
are devoid of great purpose, of some lofty ambition. 
Multitudes of men and women have no worthy purpose 
in life. They are the creatures of circumstances, not 
the creators of circumstances. They are the driftwood 
of human society. 

Another essential element of success is self-respect 
and self-reliance. The successful man believes in him* 
self, and knows that what has been done can be again 
accomplished, and that greater achievements are to 
come in the future than have ever occurred in the past. 
Until a man reaches the possession of a great purpose 
and comes to think of himself as able to achieve it he 
has not even prepared himself for success. "Yoke your 
wagon to a star," said Emerson. Yoke your life to 
an exalted purpose and believe in your own powers. 

Still another essential is a Strong Will. Napoleon 
was accustomed to say to men who had failed, "You 
have not half enough will power." When anyone de- 
clared in his presence a thing impossible, he was ac- 
customed to say, "There is no such word in the lan- 
guage as impossible. It is a word only found in the 
dictionary of fools." When told that the Alps stood in 
the way of his victorious march into Italy he said: 
"There shall be no Alps." The Simplon Pass was the 
result. Will power concentrates the efforts of a life 
and gives energy to all a man's actions. Most lives 
are not devoid of effort, but the efforts are too weak to 
accomplish what we wish. We strike the rock of diffi- 
culty but through our weak wills our striking is like 
the blows of a tack hammer. What we need is a will 
power so developed, so persistent, so omnipotent that 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 9 

our blows shall become like those of the sledge-ham- 
mer that pulverizes the rock. A strong will makes a 
life otherwise weak strong in its achievements. A tal- 
low candle can be driven through a board by giving 
it sufficient velocity. So a character inherently weak in 
other respects becomes mighty through the velocity 
and momentum which a strong will imparts. 

Another thing essential to us if we would win suc- 
cess is that we learn the lesson of Economy. This ap- 
plies particularly to the right disposal of our time, 
our energies and our money. 

What wonders can be accomplished in the ordinary 
life by economizing one's time and devoting it to a 
good purpose with persistency. 

It is said that Henry Kirke White made himself 
master of the Greek grammar by studying it on his 
trips between his house and his office. 

Elihu Burritt, the learned blacksmith, worked eight 
hours a day, slept eight hours a day and studied eight 
hours a day. He mastered eighteen languages and 
numerous dialects. 

The hours wasted by multitudes in idle conversation, 
useless reading and dissipation, if improved in study or 
work, would open a pathway of advancement and suc- 
cess. 

The money squandered in trifles during a lifetime 
would make a most desirable fortune for old age. A 
young man smokes a ten-cent cigar daily. "Only $36.50 
per year," you say. Yet in twenty years it is $730, 
and with compound interest, means the price of a farm. 
Financial success is won more largely through persistent 
saving than through large earning. 



10 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

Then there is economy of effort. How much there 
is in most lives of fruitless endeavor, of useless ef- 
fort, of wasted labor. How many things we do that 
are unnecessary, without any profit to ourselves or 
others. How much time and effort we lose because our 
plans are not laid out with care. And how much of 
life's energy is utterly wasted because we dissipate it 
in a thousand directions in place of concentrating in 
one. While our thoughts, purposes, efforts and re- 
sources are scattered upon a thousand objects we need 
look for no particular success with regard to any one 
of them. 

Many other things are essential and valuable in win- 
ing success which I have pointed out in my "Course 
of Success Lessons" in "The Sermon" and in "Reason" 
but cannot, for lack of time, discuss here today. I 
will conclude, however, by giving a few general rules 
for winning success which I think of value to young 
and old. 

i. Believe in the infinite possibilities of human na- 
ture, i. e., in man's inherent divinity. Recognize the fact 
that in man dwells potentially all of wisdom, power and 
goodness. Realize the fact that human nature is 
opened to the infinite and destined to the eternal. Set 
no bounds to human achievements. 

2. Believe in 3'ourself. Look upon the greatest of 
all human achievements — the works of the artist, the 
poet, the prophet, the genius — as only the out-croppings 
of that mine of power and wisdom and spirituality that 
lies within your own nature waiting development. All 
of human greatness that the page of human history has 
disclosed is but a faint indication of what is within thy- 
self. Try to realize as applied to yourself this state- 
ment of the Nazarene, "All power is given unto me." 






SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 11 

3. Cultivate a lofty ambition. Let its spurs sink 
into your flanks daily. Be contented and at the same 
time discontented. I mean be content with the plans 
and ordination of nature; never be content with your 
own progress and achievement, your motto being "Ex- 
celsior." 

4. Concentrate your thoughts, will, resources upon 
one great undertaking. Sweep all the little streams of 
influence and effort in your life into one mighty cur- 
rent of endeavor. Say with the great Apostle Paul, 
"This one thing I do," and do it, and do it with your 
might, and do it well. 

5. Save the fragments of your life. Utilize those 
portions of time which many waste, to increase your 
knowledge or perfect your skill. 

6. Believe in nature's co-operation. Remember that 
while you are seeking to do your best all nature's 
forces are working in harmony with you. The stars fight 
for you if you are aiming resolutely day by day to make 
the most and best of your life. 

7. Have faith in your angel guides and helpers. They 
attend your steps. They are interested in your pro- 
gress. They read your thoughts and are especially 
pleased and interested when your efforts are earnest, 
your purposes noble and your heart full of love and 
good will to humanity. 

Let your thoughts and life be so pure and exalted that 
you will attract the higher intelligences to your aid. 

Then summon all your awakened powers and calling 
to your aid all nature's forces and the assistance of 
your angel helpers, go forward to make life grandly 
successful. 



LofQ 



12 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

SUCCESS LESSONS. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

No. i — Introduction. 

All men desire, but few attain success. Yet success, 
along some lines at least, is a possibility in every life. 
The fact that some attain success despite their unfav- 
orable early environment, their ill health, misfortune 
and friendless condition, proves that the way is open to 
all who will find the path and follow it. Success is 
the rightful heritage of every life, and while, doubtless, 
all cannot reap the same measure of success in precisely 
the same lines, there is no question but the ninety- 
nine unsuccessful men in every hundred might find and 
pursue the path to power, peace and plenty. 

No one should give way to pessimism. Every one 
should form the mental habit of optimistic thought. 
There are many possibilities of success to every man, 
and especially to the young. The limitations of our 
lives are made by our ignorance, our fear and our self- 
distrust. Success, apparently limitless and surpassing 
all ordinary thought, is possible to the man who can 
overcome his ignorance, his fear and learn to trust in 
himself, awaken his own powers and harmonize him- 
self with nature. 

The vast majority of young people make the fatal 
mistake of judging life — their own and others — by envir- 
onments, and of estimating their possibilities of success 
by their surroundings. This is a lamentable error and 
contrary to all true philosophy of life. Successful lives 
grow from within outward. They are endogens and 
not exogens. Every man is happy, rich, successful in 
thought and purpose and desire and will before he 
becomes so in the realities of his environment in every- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 13 

day life. Our lives are moulded by our thoughts. Our 
outer lives, including our physical environments and 
relationships, are all moulded by our inner lives of 
thought, desire and will. 

False standards of success must be shunned as mis- 
leading lights upon a rocky shore. There is, there can 
be, no true success that is not the natural outgrowth of 
mental and spiritual unfoldment. The success that 
changes merely the outer environment of men and 
leaves the character unimproved, is fictitious. The 
beggar on horseback, the man of low tastes and mean 
spirit, whom some accident has lifted to wealth or 
position, is in no true sense successful. Only the 
man who has risen by his own efforts, who has found 
and utilized his own powers, and whose outward suc- 
cess is but a sign and proof of his inward growth, is 
entitled to be called successful. No one can honestly 
desire wealth he has not earned, a position for which 
he has not fitted himself, or any outward appearance 
of power and greatness which is not a true exponent 
of spiritual power and greatness within. 

Then for securing this self-unfoldment we need, 
especially in this day, to be on guard against the char- 
latanism which has unfortunately entered the New 
Thought movement of our times. It is found in the 
extravagant advertising and glowing promises of many 
professed teachers who claim to do wonderful things 
in making your lives more successful. I do not dispute 
for a moment the help one honest, earnest soul can 
give to another in life's stern battle. We are made to 
help each other, and altruistic effort for the good of 
others is one of the supreme laws of our soul's growth. 
But all real help that another can give you will be 
given by directing your thought and will and effort 



t\ 



14 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

to self-help rather than reliance on any teacher or any 
system of teaching. Any help you can get from "vibra- 
tions" of others from "success circles," etc. — and I do 
not dispute, but. frankly admit their value — will depend 
upon the awaking of the sleeping powers of your 
own soul. When you come, therefore, to realize that 
all true success is the natural outgrowth of mental and 
spiritual unfoldment and that for securing this soul 
growth we are to look to our own will, our own effort, 
our own awakened higher nature, to the God within, 
rather than to help from without, you have taken the 
first real step toward true success. 
This is our first lesson. 



No. 2— Self Help. 

In our introductory lesson we showed that most un- 
successful men might become successful — that all 
should cherish the optimistic spirit — that successful 
lives grow from within outward — that there could be 
no true, lasting success in outward affairs that did 
not spring from inward growth and development — and 
that for this development of our thought and spirit 
power we were to depend on ourselves and not on 
others. We now proceed to show why and how we 
are to apply this self help. 

Before we shall have the courage, will and inspira- 
tion to apply these principles of Self-development, we 
must come to recognize certain great truths : — 

i. Our present character and entire physical environ- 
ments are the direct, natural and inevitable results 
of our own thoughts and those of others directly con- 
cerned with us, either in this or a previous state of 
existence. 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 15 

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" is a great 
and pregnant truth not only in respect to his char-' 
acter but also in respect to his condition. Thought 
builds and shapes our character. Thought attracts 
to us our environment. Thought produces health and 
happiness or sickness and sorrow. Thought attracts 
to us poverty or riches. Our lives in the entirety, we 
repeat, are the outflow of our past thought and that 
of our parents and friends, as the stream is the out- 
flow of the fountain. If a man thinks sickness he will 
become sick; if he thinks health he will become well, 
and so in respect to poverty and riches, happiness and 
misery. Of course we mean by "thinking" of these 
subjects something more than the mere idea of them 
passing through the mind. We mean "thinking" with 
such an intensity of desire, such an exertion of will 
power, such a power of faith and such a glow of hope 
or expectation that our interior soul forces are un- 
locked and begin to assert their magnetic power upon 
the material world and their creative power upon the 
spiritual realms around us. Thinking in this sense 
is the act of the whole being, not a mere exercise of 
the mentality. Each soul is the builder of all its con- 
ditions. 

2. We must understand our direct relationship 
with all the universe. 

The same atoms are found in the earth and stars 
and in man — and these atoms are but "magnetisms," 
"modes of motion," "retarded motion," perfectly fluid 
in character and controlled by an educated will. Man 
is thus directly and may be consciously connected with 
every object and being in the universe, and according 
to his knowledge and development may control and 
attract or repel what he pleases. 



16 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

3. We must learn that thought has a magnetic force 
and attracts to the thinker the good desired or the 
evil feared. Volumes might be written without exhaust- 
ing the subject upon the attractive power of thought, 
and men are just beginning to get a glimpse of the 
philosophy of those vibratory currents that go out 
from the reposeful center of our being and sweep into 
our environment what we most desire and what we fear 
most. 

Deductions. 

If the foregoing propositions be true we can readily 
see: 

1. Our progress, safety, success depend upon a 
knowledge and utilization of our Thought Forces. 

2. These "forces" all operate in strict accord with 
natural law. The more we learn of these "laws" the 
better we can control these "forces." 

3. Every man must be his own Saviour — his own 
"Moses." 

4. Limitless possibilities are before us when we 
learn these laws and develop these forces. 

5. One must cultivate an infinite faith in the interior 
forces of his own being. 

6. These interior forces generated by Thought may 
be rightly or wrongly directed, to our own good or 
hurt, as we cherish the best aims or ignoble purposes. 

7. In no other department of human activity is there 
greater need of a settled purpose, fixed plan, and per- 
sistent aim than in the study and regulation of your 
"Thought Forces." 

Suggestions. 
1. Cultivate a reposeful content with Nature's order 
and operations, a perpetual discontent with your own 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 17 

environment and work. Mount to higher purposes daily. 
Fan your desire to make the most and best of life to a 
glowing flame. 

2. Cherish the hope of better days, greater power, 
grander opportunities and see in perpetual mental vision 
the brighter future before you. 

3. Remember that as we cherish the noblest aims 
and purposes and unfold our own Thought Forces and 
Spirituality we attract to us spirit intelligences who 
work in sympathy with us and often open the door to 
larger fields and wider successes. 

4. Watch, therefore, for new impressions, new im- 
pulses, new desires, which often come from the spirit 
realm to lead us "out" and "up" and "on" to nobler 
heights. 



No. 3 — Methods and Maxims of Thought Power. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

To realize one's self is the first necessity of every 
life. Self knowledge is the road to power because it 
leads man into the channels of universal law. 

When a man learns himself he has learned that he 
cannot live to and by himself but must come into har- 
monious relationship with his fellows and with natural 
law. He sees himself related to all the universe, and 
as each atom serves a universal end so he must learn 
to live for the universal good. 

No selfish person ever reached the highest success. 
Broad aims, noble altruistic purposes and earnestness 
of spirit, bring a man into touch with all nature and 
cause streams of power to flow in upon his being from 
the four quarters of heaven. 



18 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

i. Every soul should realize the pregnant truth that 
the greatest talent, power and possibility ever mani- 
fested in the greatest life recorded on history's pages 
lies awaiting development within himself. The differ- 
ence between the weakest life and the strongest, between 
the most successful life and the greatest life failure, is 
largely the difference between awakened and dormant 
thought forces and powers of the soul. 

Man's first effort must be, therefore, the awakening 
of himself. As the outer life is but an expression of the 
inner thought and spirit forces he must first set up the 
kingdom within. This setting up of the kingdom is the 
liberation, direction and use of the mighty forces of 
your own being in thought, desire and will. Just as 
men liberate the forces of heat, steam and electricity 
and direct them to useful ends so man must learn to 
free and utilize the greater powers within the soul. 

These forces must be used for constructive not de- 
structive purposes, for universal good and not for mere 
selfish aims. 

2. Every soul must destroy its belief in its own 
limitations, expel its fears, banish its doubts and culti- 
vate the mood of success. It is infinitely more important 
you should have faith in yourself than that all the world 
should have faith in you. 

You must form the mental mood of success and make 
it permanent. 

This permanent mood involving hope, faith, trust, 
desire and cheer will set magnetic currents vibrating 
which will, in time, affect the environment of your life. 

Mightier are these vibrating currents generated by 
thought force under right moods and conditions than 
all bodily activity without them. 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 19 

3. Cease all wasteful and injurious expenditures of 
thought power — such as hate, worry and anxiety. These 
weaken and poison the nature. 

4. Cultivate the love element of your being. It is 
a magnetic force which will increase the soul's power 
and enrich your life with untold good. It is the soul's 
native atmosphere and sunshine. Love organizes and 
harmonizes the soul powers and calls them into con- 
stant exercise, leading to happiness as a natural and in- 
evitable result. 

5. Remember the time to be happy is now, the place 
here, and the duty and privilege belong to every soul. 

6. Remember that nature's evident intention is the 
happiness of each soul and the success of each life. You 
have, therefore, a divine right to happiness and success. 
Claim your heritage. 

7. The one thing to be conquered is ignorance. Cul- 
tivate an insatiable desire to know, especially to know 
all about yourself. As you grow in knowledge you 
grow toward omnipotence. Explore every part of your 
nature and find and remove every sham and falsity of 
your being for nothing is permanent and powerful and 
successful that is not true and good. 

8. Remember that occult powers are born of calm- 
ness and repose. Keep, therefore, your inner nature un- 
perturbed. From this calm center of reposeful power 
within you send forth the mighty forces of thought 
and desire which shall work your sovereign will. 

9. High ideals are necessary to greatest success. 
Form, therefore, the highest possible ideals of what you 
would have your body, your home, your business, your 
influence, 3'our friends, your entire environment become. 
Live, as far as practicable, this ideal life. Your thought 



20 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

by constant cherishing of lofty ideals will form the 
moulds into which all the environments of your life will 
naturally shape themselves as molten metal takes shape 
from its surroundings. 



No. 4— Financial Success. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Caution. — Take with a large grain of salt the ex- 
travagant promises of sudden riches to be obtained by 
Success Vibrations of many Mental Scientists today. 

Be very careful not to mistake us here. We by no 
means deny but assert the possibility of telepathy which 
implies that the vibrations of health, hope, happiness, 
and faith can be conveyed from mind to mind through 
other than sensory channels. 

We affirm that man may help his brother man to 
worldly success in this way — but only as he helps 
the man himself. Whatever increases your thought forces, 
strengthens your will, arouses desire, inflames zeal and 
assists you to formulate and execute your plans, will 
undoubtedly contribute to your worldly success. In- 
structions and treatment that effect these purposes are 
well worth your money. But to expect vibrations of 
others to be of advantage to you financially without first 
being of advantage to you spiritually, is as foolish as 
the hope of coining gold from the moon-beams on an 
iceberg. You are the magnet that attracts to you your 
environment. Anything that increases your magnetic 
power — be it knowledge, health, strength, will, hope, 
faith — is of inestimable value. There are two ways at 
least in which our Thought Forces may affect our 
finances advantageously. They are the Voluntary and 
Involuntary activities having to do with our knowledge, 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 21 

plans, etc., and the strange power the mind has in its 
unconscious workings of translating a fixed idea of the 
conscious mind into a fact of experience. Just a few 
thoughts where volumes might be written. 

i. Our Thought Forces may be turned to good ac- 
count in the attainment of financial success by 

(a) Formation of practical plans of endeavor. As 
a house cannot be built without a fully detailed plan and 
arranged methods of work, so a successful life on any 
line of attainment cannot be secured without careful 
and systematic plan. Lay out your work carefully, 
methodically along practical lines and then proceed to 
collect and fit the parts together. Multitudes fail because 
their plans are imperfect. 

(b) The infusion of zeal, industry and earnestness 
into your life zuork. A tallow candle can be driven 
through a board if you give it velocity enough. The 
bullet is necessary but no more so than the powder. Put 
the explosive force of zeal and flame-hearted earnest- 
ness into your life. 

(c) By strengthening the will power. Napoleon 
used to say to those who failed: "You have only half 
enough will power." "Impossible," said he, "is a word 
only found in the dictionary of fools." Resolve to do, 
then do it. 

(d) Making all the lesser aims and purposes in 
life tributary to the end in view. Just as the majestic 
river sweeps into its own current the tributary streams 
so let your energies concentrate on the attainment of 
knowledge, wealth, position, etc., and you bring attain- 
ment nigh. Don't dissipate your energies in a hundred 
lines. Concentrate, concentrate. 



22 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

2. Our Thought Forces work unconsciously but 
mightily toward the attainment of whatever object we 
hold in the mind as a fixed idea. There is a whole 
realm of operation here that is extremely wonderful 
and mysterious and but little is positively known save 
the bare fact that a fixed idea in the mind tends to real- 
ise itself in the environments of life. 

Picture to yourself, therefore, fully what you would 
realize. Keep it hung before the mental vision. See 
yourself as clearly and as persistently as possible in pos- 
session of the desired good and you set into operation 
the creative forces of the mind that always tend to 
realization — sooner or later — in objective life. 



No. 5 — Ideals. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Most men fail from low ideals. Their ideal of the 
power and possibility inherent in humanity (in them- 
selves) is too low. Their ideal of what constitutes 
success is too low. Until men realize that the ability 
to conceive of great results is a pledge and promise of 
the soul's power to achieve them, they will continue to 
fall below what should be their ideals and, consequently, 
to fail in achieving the possibilities of success before 
them. 

Emerson's advice to "yoke one's wagon to a star" is 
truly philosophical in that the seemingly impossible is 
to a daring and resolute spirit, actually possible, and in 
that an attempt to reach the apparently unattainable 
will always result in a greater measure of success than 
the life without lofty and noble aspirations. 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 23 

Many young people need in starting life a toning up 
of desires and ambitions and an elevation of their ideal 
ruling purpose in life. For this purpose I know of 
nothing better than the biography of great men and 
women. The stories of a Columbus, of an Abraham 
Lincoln, of a Joshua Slocum who built a vessel with 
his own hands and in it sailed around the world alone, 
are full of courage, hope, inspiration, and help to ele- 
vate the ideals and purposes of every one who reads 
them. 

Young people are especially benefitted by the well- 
written and truthful biography of successful men and 
women. 

High ideals in relation to character and achievement 
aid people in two ways — first, by arousing soul powers 
and energies that would never become active under 
the stimulation of ordinary ideals, and, secondly, by 
concentrating the life energies on a single great aim. 

In every nature the reserve force is much greater 
than the active force. A lofty ambition, an exalted pur- 
pose, a pure and holy ideal, calls forth the hidden soul 
powers, and sets the whole nature on fire. The man 
who can waken his whole nature is sure of success. 
To do great deeds one must first think great thoughts. 
To be great in life one must first be great in desire, 
in purpose, in cherished ideals. 

Discard then the preaching that warns you against 
too great ambition. Let your ambition mount skyward 
and your dream be of success never yet achieved by 
mortal — but don't be content with dreaming. It is the 
dream that stirs your soul to its center, it is the ambi- 
tion that sets the brain vibrating, the heart throbbing, 
the hands working; it is the ideal that shines like a 



24 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

blazing star over your upward pathway that will help 
you to success. 

A lofty ideal will unite your nature. It will central- 
ize your thoughts, your efforts and sweep all the trib- 
utary currents of your life into one majestic and irre- 
sistible tide bearing away all barriers. 

Picture to your soul, then, the loftiest possible ideal. 
Let it stir the profoundest depths of your nature. Let 
it intensify thought and desire and lead you on to your 
chosen inheritance. 



No. 6 — Economy. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Economy is a much broader word than most people 
imagine. It applies to time, strength, talent, influence 
and effort, as well as to the prudent and saving use of 
money. The rule of life should be: Avoid all waste. 

i. In the matter of time how unspeakably important 
it is that we should learn how to make the best use of 
"spare moments," "odds and ends" of our lives, and 
make them contribute their full share to life's grand 
purpose and attainment. 

The hours squandered in idleness or senseless dis- 
sipation by many poor men and boys would, if syste- 
matically improved, lead them to increased knowledge 
and skill, and these qualities lift their possessor from 
poverty to comfort and independence. 

The laboring man, whose time is worth but $1.00 or 
$2.00 per day, may, by attaining skill, experience and 
knowledge, command a much higher sum and soon bet- 
ter his material condition. The vast majority of men 
who have risen from obscurity to power, and from 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 25 

power to affluence, have done so by careful and syste- 
matic improvement of the spare moments of their lives. 

"Time is money," it is said. But this very inade- 
quately expresses the truth. Time is infinitely more 
than money. Time is, when improved, education, 
knowledge, enjoyment, skill, talent, character. The 
way a boy spends his spare hours shows what the 
boy is. 

Time, we say, improved, means education. Many a 
man by persistent and systematic use of his spare 
moments in study has changed himself from the rustic 
into the scholar or the philosopher. 

Elihu Burritt, the learned blacksmith, worked eight 
hours daily, slept eight hours and studied eight hours. 
Thus he mastered twenty-two languages and dialects. 

Henry Kirk White learned the Greek grammar on his 
trips to and from the lawyer's office. Many of the 
busiest men find time to master languages, learn music, 
practice art, and make themselves proficient in history 
and science by improving the "odds and ends" of their 
time. 

2. Economise your efforts by (a) Avoiding needless 
work; (b) By doing your work in the right way, at 
the right time, under the best conditions ; (c) By avoid- 
ing all worry and fret, and inharmonious mental con- 
ditions, all of which sap and waste life's energies. Cul- 
tivate cheerfulness and hopefulness which keep life's 
machinery so well oiled that friction and unnecessary 
wear are avoided. 

3. Make it a rule not to waste a penny, to save reg- 
ularly a part of your income, however small, and to 
increase the earning power of your own life. 

We do not teach niggardliness, the miser's greedy 
hoarding of what should be spent for food and raiment. 



26 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

Men may entirely avoid the miserly character and spirit, 
and may even be generous and liberal, who refuse pos- 
itively to waste a penny. 

Form the habit of laying aside systematically some 
part of your earnings. If you do not save something 
out of the small income, you will, in all probability, 
waste the whole of a larger income. 

A young man smokes a ten cent cigar daily and when 
he has reached mature manhood has no idea that he 
has smoked up, in capital and interest, the price of a 
good farm, yet such is the case. 

Many an old man in poverty today would be in com- 
fort and comparative affluence if he had the wasted 
nickles and dimes he thoughtlessly passed over the bar 
during his lifetime for unnecessary drinks. 

And what one loses by these trifling yet unnecessary 
expenditures is not merely their aggregate sum and in- 
terest compounded, but the larger sum of money which 
might have been possessed if these wasted sums had 
been saved and properly invested. Money makes 
money. If, therefore, you would avoid poverty and 
have means to dispense in charity, waste nothing, re- 
strict your wants, save part of all your earnings and 
learn how to make every dollar expended serve you and 
your fellow men. 



No. 7 — Planning. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

One great secret of success in life is careful, wise and 
prudent planning of our labors in advance. Perhaps in 
no one thing does the successful man surpass the un- 
successful more than in the ability to foresee the future, 
prepare and arrange his plans to meet its exigencies 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. V 

and to so direct his labors to avoid loss of time, money 
and energy, and make all his work bear directly on the 
attainment of his great purpose in life. 

All great generals — Caesar, Hannibal, Napoleon, Wel- 
lington, Grant — have excelled in ability to lay out prac- 
tical plans of campaign and, in a multitude of great 
battles the victory has been won more largely by skill- 
ful, bold and decisive planning than by the use of super- 
ior force. 

What is the chief thing in good Planning? We 
answer that the first essential is knozvledge. Take the 
general about to engage the enemy's forces in battle. 
What does he need especially for the formation of his 
plans of battle? Chiefly knowledge. He needs to know 
fully the forces arrayed against him; he needs to know 
accurately the forces at his command; he needs to 
know the weak and strong points of both armies; he 
needs to know every foot of the ground over which 
the battle may rage; and, in short, the more complete 
and accurate his knowledge, the better plan of battle 
can he lay out and the greater his prospect of success. 

The architect before building must know the nature 
of the site, quality of material, figure out the cost, take 
into account the element of time and weather, and, in 
short, build his structure completely in mind before 
he builds it in mortar, as the successful general must 
fight out in the mental area his battle before he success- 
fully fights the enemy. 

So every young person in planning his life work 
needs, especially, knowledge. First, he needs to know 
himself, physically, intellectually and morally, his 
strength and weaknesses, his tastes, inclinations and 
special talents. 



28 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

The next essential in successful planning is such a 
scheme as will recognize all the great facts and factors 
entering into the life. Every young man should study 
himself — know his own ability, find out his own talent 
and special inclinations, take into account the peculiar 
circumstances in his own life, and then lay out, as a 
general does his order of battle, as an architect does 
his building, his life plan. 

A large class of young men seem to have formulated 
no plans, schemes, purposes, beyond the present and 
the immediate future. 

Not long since I heard a distinguished man giving 
as one great reason for his success — and he had risen 
under very adverse influences from ignorance and pov- 
erty to wide knowledge and a position of great honor 
and power — in these words : 

"When as a country lad I entered college in my 
'teens, I laid out carefully in advance a course of five 
years in Arts and four following years in Theology. 
I was poor and had to earn my money during the vaca- 
tions, by editorial work during the college year, and 
labored under great disadvantages in other respects. 
Yet my carefully matured plans I followed out through 
nine years without deviation, and if I have met with 
success in life it has been largely owing to my ability 
to plan my work carefully and then stick to my plans 
until I had completed them." 



No. 8 — Attraction. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Attraction and repulsion are two great laws that rule 
in all nature's realms. Atoms attract and repel each 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 29 

other; worlds attract and repel each other; men attract 
and repel each other. 

Some men draw other men toward them and compel 
other men to follow their leadership just as a magnet 
attracts and rules the needle. 

Some men attract to themselves power, property, in- 
fluence and the good-will of their fellows. Other men 
repulse their fellows, dissipate their energies, and scat- 
ter their possessions. 

Granted that by nature all men are not equally mag- 
netic, it is certainly true that the man of one magnetic 
talent may by using it, and by learning the natural laws 
of its increase and development, surpass in success the 
man who has by birth five magnetic talents which he 
ignores and neglects. 

Some people are endowed with an attractive person- 
ality, a magnetism of a physical nature, and others 
possess the mental and spiritual attraction — but what- 
ever the kind or degree of magnetic endowment it is 
capable of large increase and, in fact, of unlimited 
growth according to our intelligence and environments. 

Three things seem necessary for the person wishing 
to achieve success : — 

i. A due recognition of the existence of personal 
magnetism and of its great importance in winning suc- 
cess. Unless we are impressed with this idea we shall 
give more attention to doing than to being, more 
thought to what we do than to how we do it, forgetting 
that the inner character of the doer goes into and be- 
comes a part of everything done, and makes for success 
or failure. 

Unless we are impressed with the necessity of having 
and exerting this power we shall neglect the mightiest 



30 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

element of success in life, which is the personal. This 
is the one great temptation of all young people, viz. : to 
put their thought, effort and will power on every other 
thing rather than the cultivation of strong and magnetic 
personality. 

Not where we live, what we do, what Mrs. Grundy 
thinks — but how we live, how we do, what we think 
of ourselves, and above all, what we are — these are the 
great questions of life and most intimately connected 
with success. 

2. We must avoid dissipation of our magnetic forces. 
Even the physical magnetism may be wasted by useless 
expenditures of bodily force — by care, sorrow, envy, 
hatred — and inharmonious surroundings. All our en- 
vironments should be made to harmonize as far as 
possible with our natures, so that our life work should 
be easy, natural and pleasant, rather than difficult and 
irksome. Our life's work should be of such a character 
and in such environment that we feel like singing and, 
if we have learned the power of the human mind, we 
can make it so. 

3. We must give time and effort and study to the 
development of 

The Attractive Power of Thought. 

Thought is the greatest force, the mightiest lever and 
the strongest magnet in the world. It deals with the 
silent yet mighty currents of power that roll on through 
the different realms, creating and moulding and fashion- 
ing all things in earth and heaven. It is a God-like 
power, dealing with nature's finer forces and working 
its way out from the finer realms of ether, through 
varying degrees of substance, into the material realms. 
Thought force does not come directly in touch with 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 31 

material things — but it moulds and fashions that of 
which matter is the expression. We put before our 
students then a few 

Practical Points. 

i. Never forget that you are the largest factor in 
your life's success or failure. 

2. Build daily a vigorous body, strong mentality and 
an attractive personality. Live so as to respect your- 
self. 

3. Avoid all excesses : let the whole current of your 
life be directed toward your object. 

4. Rule out all thoughts which injure you. Make 
your mental and spiritual kingdom harmonious. 

5. Persistently see with your soul eyes the realiza- 
tion of your pure desires. Assert your divine right to 
rule material conditions. 



No. g — Courtesy, Kindness and Tact. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Chesterfield, the great authority upon manners in 
his day, in his letters to his son, wrote : "A man might 
better return a dropped fan genteely than to give £10,000 
awkwardly." This extreme statement serves to show 
the importance attached to courtesy and gentility as a 
means of winning social favor and the good-will of our 
fellow men upon which so much depends in the battle 
of life. While one's method of treating his fellows in 
the home and in society is not the all-important thing 
in life, there can be no doubt that next to character 
and ability a courteous manner and a kind and tactful 
way of conducting one's self in society is one of the 
greatest aids to success. It is not too much to say that 



32 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

the chances of success of any young man possessed of 
genuine courtesy and pleasing manners is fifty per cent, 
better than that of another young man of equal ability 
and equally good character, who is devoid of these 
efficient aids. 

Of course it is presumed in this article that the 
courtesy and kindness and tact which we recommend, 
are not solely or chiefly the result of prudent considera- 
tion of one's own welfare, a mere matter of policy or 
craft, but the outflow from a fountain of kindness and 
good-will within our nature which leads us to sincerely 
desire the good of all and to make constant effort to 
please our fellows and makp their lives happy and en- 
jovable. 

The true source of genuine courtesy is a deep and 
abiding interest in the happiness and welfare of our 
fellow men. This should be assiduously cultivated by 
us — not only as the true method of developing the 
graces of politeness, courtesy and gentility — but the 
more especially for the development of our own charac- 
ters. 

The politeness and affected kindness that is only 
outward, or to use an expressive phrase, skin-deep, that 
is in fact a mere matter of worldly policy, has a deter- 
iorating effect upon our own character and is in con- 
stant danger of detection. 

In this age in which men and women are growing 
rapidly in sensitiveness and in which telepathy is rapidly 
becoming a conscious experience with many, it is becom- 
ing more and more difficult to use language as a means 
of concealing thought and feeling. 

The number of people possessing intuitive perception 
of character and that sensitiveness of soul that enables 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 33 

them to see the real thought and feeling of the speaker 
behind his deceptive words and conduct, is rapidly in- 
creasing and all men and women everywhere despise 
hypocrisy. 

i.- Fight against selfishness, narrowness of view and 
purpose that would make your lives a mere struggle 
for self upon the animal plane of existence. 

2. Remember that the cultivation of a real interest 
in the welfare of others will enlarge and ennoble your 
own life and become the fruitful source of all those 
graces in character and conduct which win the love and 
favor of your fellow men. 

This interest in others will make it easy to be 
courteous, kind and polite and good manners will be- 
come "second nature." 

3. Having thus laid a good foundation it is next in 
order to become thoroughly conversant with the ap- 
proved forms of good society and live up to them. 

4. Make it a rule never to offend. The particular 
views entertained by others, whether right or wrong, 
wise or foolish, upon business, politics, religion, etc., 
are all right and, in a sense, necessary, to the people 
who entertain them at the time. Yours may be more ad- 
vanced but you should ever recognize the sacred rights 
of individual opinion and avoid offense. 

Among the advantages to be reaped we note : 

1. Courtesy, kindness and tact often open the door 
to new fields of labor and usefulness. 

2. They add weight and emphasis to one's words 
and deeds. 

3. They often win the favor of individuals through 
whom advancement and increased emoluments are 
secured. 



34 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

4. They add largely to one's own self-respect and 
enjoyment. 



No. 10 — Angelic Help. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

In this series of lessons we have constantly used the 
word success in its deeper, truer sense as implying 
growth in knowledge, development of character, the 
acquisition of wisdom and the beautifying adornment 
of life with all the virtues and graces — rather than in 
the limited worldly sense of material success. Financial 
success is but a fraction — and the smallest too — of that 
great integer, Success, which implies growth, unfold- 
ment, strength, wisdom, grace and the fulfillment of 
life's real mission. 

In all ages and among all nations men have sought 
the help of heaven in bearing life's burdens and trials 
and accomplishing their purposes, and who dare say — 
in view of the psychic revelations of today and the 
wonderful work of Marconi — that men have sought and 
prayed in vain for angelic help? The man who believes 
in the existence and sympathetic help of the angel 
world is certainly stronger for life's battles by the 
possession of that belief. The man who has by patient 
investigation proved to himself that there are unseen 
powers — intelligent and loving — operating beneficently 
upon his life, has acquired an inspiration, a courage, a 
strength that can come to human hearts no other way. 

If, therefore, Dear Pupils, you "have but faith" in the 
existence and aid of the angel world, do not say with 
Tennyson, "we cannot know," but as the New Testa- 
ment exhorts, "add to your faith knowledge." Trans- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 35 

late your wavering faith by patient plodding and earnest 
investigation into certain knowledge of angelic guidance 
and help, and you will find added courage and strength 
in life's battle. 

Three questions may engage our attention briefly: 
Is it right to seek the aid of angels in winning success ? 
How do the angels help us? How may we secure their 
help? 

i. Is it right to ask angelic guidance and help? Most 
assuredly it is. It is not only right but in every sense 
it is fitting and proper to ask the aid of angel friends 
in any work or enterprise where we would properly 
seek the aid of wise and loving friends still in the body. 
The younger should seek wisdom from the older, the 
ignorant from the wise, the junior scholar from the 
more advanced. Of course all this implies that we are 
living on the moral plane of right and truth — for we 
cannot expect good and loving spirits to assist in any 
base designs or nefarious practices. Of course it is 
implied, too, in our intercourse with the angel world 
we will not waste our own or their time upon triviali- 
ties, but invoke their aid and assistance in worthy ob- 
jects and for weighty purposes. 

2. The angels help us in a vast variety of ways — but 
chiefly as unseen, loving guides they seek to impress 
us with such thoughts and sentiments as will lead us 
safely and securely through the tangled mazes of our 
earth life and develop the spiritual in our characters. 
The angel world is not deeply concerned with our 
material conditions, our financial success or failure, but 
only as these affect our happiness, our growth and 
our spirituality. From the standpoint of the spirit 
realm it does not matter very much whether a man 
owns an acre or a continent, a cottage or a palace, but 



36 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

it does matter much whether he is unfolding his 
spiritual nature and being prepared for the destiny 
before him. I cannot conceive that the angels would 
be interested in a man's wealth or poverty any farther 
than these affected his own soul growth and the spread 
of truth among men. If a man with pure and holy 
motive sought wealth as a means of spreading truth 
and doing good I think he might expect the sympathy 
and aid of all his angel guides and helpers in the work. 
3. We may obtain angelic help and guidance (a) By 
purifying our own thoughts, purposes and desires so 
that the best and strongest guides and helpers may 
come near to us. 

(b) By cultivating a constant sense of dependence 
upon and trust in the aid of these blessed heavenly 
helpers. Our habitual moods and attitudes of mind 
have much to do with enabling the angels to come near 
to us and assist us. It is a good rule every morning 
and evening to send out thoughts and desires strongly 
unto our angel friends and say in the depth of our 
being, with a realizing sense of its truth: "We are 
partners, Oh, Ye Blessed Angels, in the work of Life." 

(c) Wait regularly in silence of soul, in reverence, 
in faith and hope, upon the angel world. 

(d) Follow your impressions along the line of truth, 
right and love. 



No. 11— The Right Use of Difficulties. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

There is no better test of character than a man's 
treatment of difficulties. The coward shuns them; 
the lazy man tries to go around them; the idler daw- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 37 

dies in front of them, waiting like Micawber for 
something to turn up or some miracle to remove 
them; the baby-man waits for some friend to lift 
him over them; but the manly man surmounts them. 

There are two important questions for young men: 
Hozv are we to think about our difficulties ? How are we 
to treat our difficulties? 

i. How are we to think about the difficulties we 
meet in life? This is a question of vast importance, 
for upon its correct solution depends largely our hap- 
piness and our success. 

We should never look upon difficulties as misfor- 
tunes. They are often, and when rightly used al- 
ways, among our greatest blessings. Difficulties 
encountered start the mind to active enterprise, de- 
velop the inventive genius, spur us to exertion, sum- 
mon our resources and exercise them for growth 
and enlargement. 

Difficulties are to young people what the wind is 
to the young oak — nature's method of causing us 
to lay hold more deeply on her strength and grow 
stronger fibre in our mental and moral being. Diffi- 
culties furnish us our grandest opportunities — be- 
coming, as they do, the great incentive and inspira- 
tion to our undeveloped forces. They call forth our 
reserve power. They are Heaven-ordained instru- 
mentalities for awakening the slumbering powers 
within us to life and activity. 

A young man with many difficulties in his way 
ought to thank God and take courage. He should 
spell the word d-i-f-f-i-c-u-1-t-i-e-s, but should always 
pronounce it opportunities. 



38 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

2. How are we to treat our difficulties ? 

First, we must face them squarely. Many of life's 
difficulties are more imaginary than real. They dwindle 
to insignificance the moment we gaze resolutely upon 
them. Study them as carefully as you would an oppo- 
nent in battle whom you are determined to conquer. 
Learn all you can from friend and foe about the dif- 
ficulties you are encountering. Remember you are 
born to conquer, and resolve to be a victor. Let 
there be no shunning, no whining, no waiting, no 
sickly, babyish dependence on others. Your own 
right hand, your own strong heart, your own in- 
domitable will — these can give you the victory. 

Treat your difficulties as the athletes treat their 
hard and rigid training — with a welcome; and re- 
member each difficulty conquered means more manly 
strength. 

Read the history of the world's greatest men and 
see how they conquered poverty, prejudice, and op- 
position; how they triumphed over bodily weak- 
ness ("out of weakness were made strong" — through 
difficulties) ; how they overcame mental and moral 
deficiencies, and rose up giants from the contests 
and victors in the battle, and became men of whom 
the world was not worthy, because they overcame diffi- 
culties. 

Conquer your difficulties and you have conquered 
the world. 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 39 

No. 12 — Fidelity in Small Things. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

"Learn how to serve in order to know how to com- 
mand." 

This summary of proverbial wisdom is worthy of 
the profound consideration of every man who would 
win success in life's battle-field. The soldier who 
knows how to render prompt, skillful and hearty 
obedience is the one who wins favor of his superiors, 
admiration of his friends, and who knows best, when 
the responsibilities come to him, how to command. 

One of the great factors of success in life is, un- 
doubtedly, the good will and commendation of those 
in superior position. The favor of the manager, the 
good will of the captain, the approval of the prin- 
cipal often open the door of opportunity to the clerk, 
the soldier and the junior teacher. And nothing 
wins the favor of one's superiors more frequently 
and certainly than -fidelity in small things. A great 
Teacher has declared: "He that is faithful in that 
which is least is faithful also in much," and 
this is unquestionably true. The clerk who can be 
trusted to handle small sums carefully and with 
strict honesty, gives the best possible guarantee of 
his trustworthiness in greater matters. On the other 
hand, the young man or woman who is not strictly 
careful, accurate, and honest in small accounts, 
shows traits of character that throw a cloud of sus- 
picion over his whole conduct. The return of a few 
cents to the drawer, the careful accounting for every 
cent of expenditure on some mission to which he 
has been sent, the return of the exact amount of 
change in every transaction, has often given a clerk 



40 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

a reputation for care and fidelity that has paved his 
way to future promotion and success. "A straw best 
shows how the wind blows." And why? Because it 
yields most readily and offers least resistance to the 
current. Little things are better tests of character 
than big things — simply because we act more spon- 
taneously and naturally, and show forth, therefore, 
more clearly just what we are in the smaller actions of 
life. The more important actions of life summon up 
our caution and bring greater motives to act with 
regard to the opinions of others and, consequently, 
are not as good tests of real character as the seem- 
ingly trifling acts of our lives. 

Not only is this true in money matters. It ap- 
plies also to every class of actions in which we en- 
gage. The secretary who is careful and painstak- 
ing in carrying out the instructions and wishes of 
his employer, the clerk whose books and papers are 
kept with promptness, neatness, order, and with strict 
regard for his employer's interests and wishes, the 
teacher whose care, and patience, and fidelity in the 
minutest details of her work are most apparent upon 
strictest examination — these are the ones who may look 
for success and promotion, as a rule. 

There may be, and doubtless are, cases where the 
least worthy are promoted, but the rule holds good 
that fidelity in small things brings a certain reward. But 
another consideration even more important than pro- 
motion and financial success is the good effect such 
fidelity in small things will have upon one's own 
character. This brings in the larger question of the 
highest success in life which always includes the growth 
and perfection of our own character. 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 41 

In respect to this, no action of our lives may be 
considered trifling or unimportant. We should 
guard against temptations to trifling dishonesties — 
no matter how much custom may sanction them — 
since they will, like the unseen worm which destroys 
the heart of the tree, rob us of that strict principle 
of honor and our own self-respect, the loss of which 
no worldy success can compensate. 



No. 13 — Attraction. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Planets attract each other directly in proportion to 
mass and inversely in proportion to the square of the 
distance. Men attract each other directly in proportion 
to soul powers, and directly also in proportion to 
affinity. There is in psychic matters practically no such 
thing as distance. 

Other things being equal, a man's power of attraction 
is the measure of his success. As all the heavenly 
bodies may be roughly divided into suns and planets, 
that is to say, into ruling and ruled, so men may be 
classed as leaders and rulers, or as inferiors and fol- 
lowers. Some men are in society what the sun is in 
our system: they rule by virtue of their superior charac- 
ter and greater powers of attraction. Others are like 
the attendant planets, moons and satellites that revolve 
around other planets and a central sun. 

Not only do men attract each other; they attract to 
themselves every object upon which the mind and heart 
of a man is set, and they attract them in proportion to 
their developed soul powers of will and desire. Men 



42 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

are, when spiritually unfolded, living magnets that, like 
the central sun, draw within the circle of their influence 
and hold within their sphere all objects of human seek- 
ing, and thus become as truly rulers of a spiritual 
kingdom as the suns are rulers in their respective 
systems. 

How shall we increase our powers of attraction? 
How shall we gain that subtle, secret, ever-working, 
all-pervasive and all-conquering power which is the 
one essential of the successful man and the leader 
among men? 

To see how very simple the problem is, let us put 
it in another form. How shall we add to the attractive 
power of a planet changing the inferior satellite into the 
ruling sun ? There is but one way : by addition we 
must increase the mass, that is, add to the weight. 
How, then, shall we change the weak and inferior man 
into the strong, attractive and successful personality? 
We must add to his character — not by accretions from 
without, but by growth from within — those qualities 
and powers that constitute true manhood. 

This, then, is the germinal and all-important thought 
for young people who would become successful leaders 
of their fellows and attract unto themselves all needed 
good : / can only gain power to attract all good to me 
as I unfold my own spiritual being. I cannot do it by 
artifice, by rule, by formula, by charm. I must by 
growth change weakness to strength. I must be trans- 
formed from the satellite into the sun, and by this 
transformation of self change failure to success. 

Now, the qualities that enter into strong and beau- 
tiful character are many and various. But among them 
we may surely place intelligence, strength of will, 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 43 

nobility of purpose, love of humanity, sociability and 
kindness, and a deep abiding sympathy for our fellow 
men. 

As we develop these qualities of character we in- 
crease our power of drawing men and things into the 
circle of our desires. 

It is a law of the mental realm, abundantly illustrated 
in human history, that whatever men persistently and 
earnestly think about and desire, while working in 
accord with nature, is, by a law of spiritual attraction, 
sooner or later realised in their life experiences. 



No. 14 — The Use of Opportunities. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

An ancient proverb bids us seize opportunity by 
the forelock, as she is represented as bald behind. 
Those who do not grasp her as she passes have no 
chance of seizing her afterward. There is something 
to be done, however, before the opportunity comes 
to us and that is to get ready for her coming. 

The young man who employs his time looking 
for a situation for which he is not fitted is wasting 
his efforts. He who crowds himself into a place 
which he cannot fill is dishonest. Sincerity and self- 
respect both debar us from grasping after rewards 
for which we cannot render honest and adequate 
service. The first thing, then, my young friend, to 
do is to get ready for the position before the position 
is ready for you. 

What your present work shall be no one but 
yourself can determine. It need not necessarily be 
your chosen life work. Any honest engagement for 



44 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

which you are now fitted or for which you can fit 
yourself may be your first opportunity of advance- 
ment. It is perfectly legitimate to use the lesser 
opportunities, the lower positions, of today, as step- 
ping stones to grander ones later on. Opportunites 
of today improved bring greater opportunities of 
tomorrow. 

Thousands of young men have seized the oppor- 
tunity of manual labor as a stepping stone to educa- 
tion — then used their acquired knowledge or skill as a 
stepping stone to further training and culture. Only the 
fool and the sluggard will fail to utilize the best op- 
portunities of today while waiting for greater ones 
tomorrow. Surely it is better to be honestly engaged 
at 50 cents a day than idly calling on the gods for 
an opportunity to earn $1 per diem. 

But the right use of opportunity includes not only 
the grasping of her forelock — entering the door as 
it opens — but such a faithful, earnest and efficient dis- 
charge of the duties of one's present position as will 
warrant promotion and fit one for a higher place. 
Multitudes lay the ground work of increased re- 
ward by rendering themselves so useful and valuable 
that their services cannot be dispensed with. Make 
yourself a necessity in some sphere of activity and 
the world will recognize your value. 

Another essential thing is that when a great op- 
portunity does come to you, one for which you have 
prayed and waited and fitted yourself you seize it with- 
out fear or faltering, and make it thoroughly your own. 
Make the most of your opportunities. The Spanish have 
a proverb that half the misfortunes in life come from 
holding in your horse while he is leaping. The horseman 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 45 

who checks his courser when vaulting over the 
hedge or brook courts death or disaster. 

So, when the time comes for the supreme effort, 
the grand vault which is to lift us over the obsta- 
cles in our path and introduce us to a higher and 
nobler arena, we must enter into the spirit and effort 
of the hour and not hold back our horse when he 
is leaping. 

There comes to each life but a few of these mo- 
ments, and when they do come they must be improved 
to the utmost. Sometimes but once in the lifetime 
is there that "tide" of which Shakespeare speaks, 
"which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." But 
when the tide has risen to the flood let us launch our 
boats fearlessly upon it. 



No. 15 — Laying Aside Weights. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

The author of The Letter to the Hebrews exhorts 
early Christians in these words: "Wherefore seeing 
we also are compassed about with so great a 
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, 3 ' etc. 

As the runner strips for the race, and the ath- 
lete allows nothing to encumber his limbs as he 
steps into the arena, so the young man and the 
young woman who would win in life's heavily con- 
tested conflicts wisely lays aside everything that 
would hinder the fullest exercise of his powers or 
lessen his chances of winning success. No argu- 
ment is needed here; every weight carried lessens the 
chances of victory; every weight discarded increases 
the prospects of success. 



46 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

Yet what multitudes enter life's great arena loaded 
down with weights, careless if not utterly oblivious of 
the handicap under which they struggle for fame and 
fortune and the higher success of character. 

Let me point out a few of the loads that multi- 
tudes are carrying in the great race of life, and see, 
gentle reader, if any of them are a part of your un- 
necessary burden. Among the weights to be speed- 
ily got rid of and forever after shunned are : 

i. Boorish manners and offensive speech. These 
are two of the heaviest weights a contestant can carry 
who is dependent in any degree — and who is not? — 
on the good will of his fellows. Every one should cul- 
tivate affability, courtesy, kindness and a pleasing man- 
ner (and make these the habitual expression of his life 
toward others) as a necessary part of his stock-in-trade 
in every calling in life. Thousands owe a large meas- 
ure of their success in life to their ability to please peo- 
ple by wise, witty, appropriate and pertinent speech and 
winning demeanor. 

2. Evil companionship, by which we mean not only 
companionship which is pernicious in its moral effects, 
but also all associations which dissipate time, money, en- 
ergy, ambition, and which weaken one's application to 
the great central object, toward which every success- 
ful life must be directed. 

Multitudes of young men and women in life have 
fallen utterly short of the goal of their ambition be- 
cause they have carried as dead weights upon their 
backs some undesirable comrades in the race. Choose 
between success and such companionship. 

3. An enslaving habit is a weight exceedingly diffi- 
cult to carry in life's race if you would win the prize. 
We speak of no habit in particular, but of all habits 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 47 

which master life and enthral it. The native atmosphere 
of the soul is freedom, and when the soul becomes en- 
slaved it ceases to grow, ceases to sing its divine song 
of victory — just as the captured bird ceases to sing — and 
then comes loss of self-respect, healthful ambition and 
the energy which the soul is ever gathering to itself 
in freedom. 

Enslaving habits are like cords wound around the 
limbs of the racer — like heavy garments which impede 
his every movement and cause the useless expenditure 
of his strength in overcoming their resistance, which 
should be expended in a forward movement toward the 
prize. Break all enslaving habits if you would win suc- 
cess; and, seeing that no wise racer carries unnecessary 
weights, let us lay aside all offensive manners and 
speech, all companionship that hinders rather than 
helps, all habits that enslave, and bend all our energies 
to the accomplishment of life's great work and the at- 
tainment of true success. 



No. 1 6 — The Law of Success. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

One of the great difficulties experienced in starting 
3'oung people on the road to success is the prevailing 
idea in the popular mind that success and failure in 
life is to a large extent the result of chance, of good 
or ill luck, as the case may be. Of course, one's lot 
in life, ones environment at birth, and the conduct of 
others form an element in life's success or failure 
which seems to be fortuitous, and over which one 
does not appear to have direct control. But this is, 
at best, only one element, and in the vast majority 



48 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

of lives a very fractional and insignificant element of 
life's success or failure. The statement, life is what we 
make it, is substantially true of all men. One's environ- 
ment may be changed, one's condition in life reversed, 
the friendship or hatred of one's fellow men may be 
altered, by wise and persistent thought, enforced by 
strong will power and expressed in the daily living. 
We can be what we will to be, and we can make new 
environments, or rather, our changed character will 
inevitably bring about changed environments, that 
is to say, success or failure. "Out of the heart are 
the issues of life," a Scriptural statement, containing, 
when understood, a great philosophic truth, viz.: that 
life's outward conditions (issues) are the expression 
— we might say the materialization — of one's thoughts, 
ideals, purposes and will; in other words, of the inner 
and spiritual nature (the heart). 

No young person is fairly started on the road to 
success until he has disabused his mind of the opin- 
ion that success or failure is a question of chance or 
luck. As long as a person believes that Fortune, 
fickle goddess, is opposed to him and, therefore, his 
efforts are vain, or that Fortune smiles upon him, 
and therefore, his efforts are useless, so long he will 
drift, the victim of circumstances, and fail to sum- 
mon his soul forces to that supreme effort which 
masters so-called fate, and leads to the heights of 
success. 

Learn, then, Oh, my young Brothers and Sisters, 
that success is a result of right thought and action, 
an effect the cause of which is found in one's self, 
a harvest the seed of which you must sow person- 
ally and in soil prepared by your own tilling. The law of 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 49 

success is a fixed principle in nature, and as unchangeable 
as the laiv which governs seed time and harvest. Success 
as inevitably follows a certain line of thought and 
action as effect follows cause. 

In agriculture no one sows barley and reaps 
wheat; no one sows figs and reaps thistles; so no 
one in the mental and spiritual realm sows right 
thought and action without reaping the beneficent 
results in his own person and surroundings. Would 
it not be wonderful if it were otherwise? Would it 
not be an anomaly in nature's order if cause and 
effect ruled everywhere in earth and heaven — save in 
character-building and fortune-making. 

Find, then, Oh, my young Brothers and Sisters, 
what you seek first in your own soul, for be assured 
if you find it not there you will search from pole to 
pole God's universe for it in vain. If it be happiness 
you seek, find it first within thyself, and then you 
will find it everywhere without. Seek you power? 
Discover it in thine own spirit, and rise to the con- 
sciousness, "All power is given unto me in heaven 
and in earth." Seek you for wealth? All its golden 
treasures are within you, if you find them not there 
your search will be fruitless without. So with suc- 
cess. It is always an inner realization of the soul 
before it is an outward expression in the life. 

Success in business, politics and in every calling 
in life is an inevitable and invariable result of suc- 
cess in thinking, feeling and willing. 

Build up, then, from within. Develop mentality. 
Amass knowledge. Cultivate clear thinking and cor- 
rect reasoning. Elevate your ideals. Realize your 
higher self. Develop your will power, and let your 



50 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

knowledge, clear thought, reason, will power and 
high ideals express themselves in your words and 
deeds — then watch and wait. Success is at hand. 



No. 17 — Shun Secret Sins. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

In urging my young friends to live pure and honest 
lives, avoiding deception and hypocrisy as they would 
poison, not only because purity and honesty are supreme- 
ly valuable and beautiful in themselves, but also as a 
means of securing success in life, I am aware that I am 
running counter to popular opinion. Most people think 
that the road to worldly success is a pathway of decep- 
tion and cunning, and that a life of secret immorality is 
quite consistent with the truly successful life. 

But, if as I have pointed out in previous lessons, true 
success consists not only in the attainment of those 
worldly objects men chiefly desire, but also in the main- 
tenance of our own self-respect and a good opinion of 
ourselves, if it means not only riches but character, if 
it implies not only the possession of power and money 
but chiefly, and more particularly, the capacity to use 
and to enjoy whatever of worldly good may come to us, 
then we may consider a good life the true foundation of 
success. 

What is sin? The trangression of those divine laws 
of nature which govern us. The old idea of sin — as an 
affront and offense to a personal deity, who will act as 
judge of our fate and arbitrarily send "one to heaven 
and ten to hell" — we may discard as one of the con- 
ceptions which mankind has outgrown. Sin is a viola- 
tion of nature's order, a reversal of nature's plan, an 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 51 

attempt to open the hand backward in place of toward 
the palm — resulting in broken bones and suffering. Sin 
is self-hurt. It is moral suicide. It is generally the 
result of ignorance of nature's laws — or of habits formed 
and passions engendered in ignorance. It often implies 
the ascendancy — for the time being — of the animal 
nature in man over the intellectual and spiritual, and, 
therefore, means a low state of unfoldment, the un- 
ripeness of human nature. 

Nature (God's revelation of himself) has a plan, an 
order, a law which should govern man in all the 
expressions of his physical, mental and spiritual life. 
Obedience to that law is life ; disobedience means suffer- 
ing and death. 

All violations of nature's laws, whether through igno- 
rance or passion, bring their penalty. There is no escape 
from the consequences of sin. "Whatsoever a man sow- 
eth that shall he also reap." 

It matters not, therefore, if our sins are secret and 
unknown to the world. The approbation of our friends 
will not secure us exemption from the penalties of vio- 
lated law. Every sin is the infliction of a wound upon 
himself by the sinner. 

Shun, therefore, all secret violations of the laws of 
honesty, purity, decency and charity, knowing — 

i. Secret sins indulged often become public sins, 
and destroy the reputation of the transgressor. The man 
who secretly imbibes intoxicants becomes at last the 
public drunkard. Secret indulgence in vice becomes at 
last known debauchery. Secret acts of dishonesty de- 
velop into habits that lead to exposure and disgrace. 

2. Secret sins destroy self-respect. What if the pub- 
lic applaud you as an honest and good man, if your 
own higher nature denounces you as a deceiver and a 



52 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

villain? Your own self-respect is worth more to yon 
than the good opinion of all men and gods combined. 

3. Secret sins sap the strength of your life and char- 
acter. The mighty forest tree that seemed a tower of 
strength falls before the oncoming blast, A worm has 
been secretly feeding at its heart, and in the crucial 
hour it fell. Therefore, preserve thy strength and self- 
respect though the heavens fall. 



No. 18 — Self -Assertion as a Success Factor. 

Many a well educated man of good address and abili- 
ty fails to win a satisfactory position in life because 
he lacks self-assertion. He has a shrinking nature and 
abhors publicity; the thought of pushing himself for- 
ward is repugnant to him, and so he is left behind in 
the race by the hustling, stirring, vigorous people 
around him, many of whom do not possess one-tenth of 
his ability or natural advantages. 

Many young people have a totally mistaken concep- 
tion of the meaning of healthy aggressiveness. They 
frequently confound it with egotistic boastfulness, de- 
cry it as a lack of modesty, and consider it the sign 
of a petty, vulgar soul. They think it unbecoming to 
try to make a good impression in regard to their own 
ability, and shrink from public gaze, believing that, 
if they work hard, even in retirement, they will come 
out all right. 

As a matter of fact, however, in this competitive age, 
it is not only indispensable to have our mental store- 
houses well stocked with superior goods, but it is also 
necessary to advertise them, for even an inferior article, 
if well advertised, will often sell rapidly, while a su- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 53 

perior one without advertisement will sell at a dead 
loss. 

No one sympathizes with the blatant, conceited, over- 
confident youth who has the list of his accomplishments 
and virtues at his tongue's end, and inflicts them on 
any one he can induce to listen. He is the very oppo- 
site of the unassuming young man, who, while con- 
scious of his power, makes no parade of it, but simply 
carries himself as if he knew his business thoroughly. 

When questioned as to what he can do, a modestly 
self-assertive person does not give weak, hesitating an- 
swers, saying, "I think I can do that," or "Perhaps 
I could do it," creating a feeling of doubt not only in 
his own mind but also in that of his questioner, which 
undoubtedly acts to his disadvantage. He knows he 
can do certain things, and he says so with a confidence 
that carries conviction. 

This is the sort of self-assertion or self-confidence 
that young men and women must cultivate if they would 
raise themselves to their full value. It is a quality 
as far removed from vulgar, shallow self-conceit as the 
calm exercise of conscious power is from charlatanism. 

Thousands of young men and young women are oc- 
cupying inferior positions today because of their over- 
humility, so to speak, or fear of seeming to put them- 
selves forward. Many of them are conscious that they 
are much abler than the superintendents or managers 
over them, and are consequently dissatisfied, feeling 
that an injustice has been done them, because they 
have been passed over in favor of more aggressive 
workers. But they have only themselves to blame. 
They have been too modest to assert themselves or to 
assume responsibility when occasion has warranted, 
thinking that, in time, their real ability would be dis- 



54 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

covered by their employers, and that they would be 
advanced accordingly. But a young man with vim and 
self-confidence, who courts responsibility, will attract 
the attention of those above him, and will be promoted 
when a retiring, self-effacing, but much abler youth who 
worked beside him is passed by. 

It is useless to say that merit ought to win under any 
circumstances — the fact remains that there is very 
little chance for a young man, no matter what his 
ability, to forge ahead, if he lacks a just appreciation 
of himself and is destitute of that consciousness of 
power and willingness to assume responsibility which 
impresses his personality on others and opens the door 
to recognition of his merit. 

" 'Tis true, 'tis pity ; and pity 'tis 'tis true" that 
modest worth that retires from the public gaze and 
works in secret, waiting to be discovered and to have 
prizes thrust upon it, waits in vain. The world moves 
too fast in this twentieth century to turn aside to seek 
out shrinking ability. We must all go to the world. 

We need not delude ourselves with the idea that it will 
come to us, no matter how able or meritorious we may 
be. While actual inability can never hope to hold its 
own, even though, through self-conceit and aggressive 
methods, it may succeed in pushing its way ahead for 
a time, it is equally true that shrinking, self-effacing 
ability rarely comes to its own. — Success. 



No. 19 — Laying Aside for a Rainy Day. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Every young person should become a wage-earner 
and out of his weekly or monthly earnings systematic- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 65 

ally lay aside a certain percentage for a rainy day. Many 
young people get an allowance for spending money, 
some of them before they become earners of money 
themselves, and others who never become earners of 
money — those who exist on the earnings of others, 
sponges, drones, etc. All who have a regular income 
from any source ought to live within their income 
however small, and lay by for the future. 

It may be. objected by some of my young friends that 
a person with very small wage or allowance will find 
it impossible to lay aside a part of it. Not so. The 
amount we spend is purely a matter of habit. Many 
young people in the home and college who receive the 
most liberal allowances and many wage-earners who 
earn the largest wages save nothing and are chronically 
short of cash. As a rule it is the people of small or 
moderate income who save money. Here are a few 
good rules : 

i. Never spend a dime unnecessarily or without a 
good purpose in view. 

2. Keep accurate accounts of your income and expen- 
diture so that you may review them and see where the 
money goes, checking any unnecessary outgo. 

3. Remember that, generally speaking, he who does 
not lay aside something out of his small income will not 
do so out of a larger one. The habit of saving once 
formed persists through life. The habit of spending all 
one's income likewise persists and is a most difficult 
one to break. 

4. Resist temptation. Be content for a time with 
plain clothes and fare. Ignore Mrs. Grundy. Never 
buy things because they are cheap. Buy only to supply 
your needs not your wants. 



56 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

Another very important thing is the safety of your 
deposits. Do not take risks however golden the promises 
of gain. All is not gold that glitters. Put your money 
into the bank at three per cent, rather than risk it in 
stocks or uncertain business that promises thirty per 
cent. 

When you have a sum laid by sufficient for invest- 
ment watch your opportunities. There come chances of 
safe and profitable investment to the man who has a 
little ready money and you can, with caution, enlarge 
your capital. 

It is, however, the regular, persistent habit of laying 
by that you must depend on — not on speculation. The 
saving of the first hundred dollars has been the founda- 
tion of many a wealthy man's fortune. 



No. 20 — Be Master of One Thing. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

An old college professor of my earlier days was ac- 
customed to say: "Every person's education should be 
like a pyramid, broad at the base and running to a 
point at the top." He meant to say that there should 
be broad general information and high and perfect 
knowledge of some particular thing. He sometimes put 
the same thought in another way: "Every person ought 
to know something about everything and everything 
about something. 

This is but one way of stating two facts : that every- 
one should be sufficiently acquainted with general 
knowledge to pass for an intelligent person, and that 
he should at the same time be so thoroughly master 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 57 

of some one line of knowledge or art as to give him 
a mastery or leadership therein. 

If our contention in preceding lessons is correct, and 
every man and woman ought to be an earner of money, 
a maker of some kind of wealth, then it follows that 
to ensure a field of labor, everyone ought to acquire 
that degree of knowledge or of skill to ensure a place 
among the wage earners of today. Whilst those callings 
which require little training and skill are overcrowded 
and many are forced into idleness and want, there is 
always a place and a salary for the man or woman who 
can do some necessary or useful work better than any 
one else. Every young man or young woman ought 
to aim at the possession of such skill or knowledge in 
some particular line as to make themselves indispen- 
sable to the world. 

"There's always room at the top" it is said, but only 
the specialist gets there. The man who can do some 
one thing better than anyone else is the man that is 
wanted today. He who is "Jack of all trades and mas- 
ter of none" is not wanted in either the educational, 
political or business world today. 

It is the teacher who is master of his special sub- 
jects and can teach them better than others, the orator 
who can say the most pertinent truth and say it in 
the most effective way, the clerk who can sell most 
goods and retain the honor and good name of his house, 
the drummer who can take most orders and make his 
firm solid with its patrons, who is in demand. For this 
class of workers there is ever-increasing demand, sure 
advancement and success. 

Strive, then, in whatever calling you may find your- 
self, to take an honest pride in your work and do it 



68 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

in such a perfect way that the world will appreciate 
and reward you. 



No. 21 — From Poverty to Plenty. 

I have been from Philadelphia to Paris three times 
and can describe to you the route so that you can go 
safely and easily. I have been from Poverty to Plenty 
twice and can equally describe to you every step of 
the way. But the trouble is that the poor person thinks 
he knows a lot that he don't know. He has not the 
sense to obey any instructions strictly to the letter in 
getting from poverty to plenty while he probably 
would do exactly as we tell him to get from Philadel- 
phia to Paris. There is no other reason for his remaining 
poor. I know both routes equally well but the Poverty- 
Plenty route involves breaking down preconceived ideas 
and notions as to how other people get rich. Is your 
head filled with the idea that there is luck, accident 
fortune, when there's no such thing on earth? If you 
have not faith, confidence, trust, in yourself or in me, 
you must acquire confidence in the inner self, faith 
in not-self and trust in everybody to whom you are 
drawn after first being Christed. The latter process 
is a union of the self with the not-self which is 
contained within yourself — nothing more, nothing less. 
It is the key to all success and has nothing to do with 
modern churchianity or creeds or beliefs. I will present 
one hundred gold dollars to any person over fifteen 
years of age who fully follows my directions and hav- 
ing done so fails to get from poverty to plenty, and 
another hundred to him who follows my directions to 
go from Philadelphia to Paris and fails. The two are 
equally sure. 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 59 

Obeying all of these rules will make any person 
wealthy. 

i. Work always so faithfully that somebody other 
than your employer will seek your services at a higher 
rate of pay. Work temporarily at any kind of work, for 
any rate of pay you can get. Never grumble at any 
imposition put upon you but by secret occult means 
draw yourself into better circumstances. 

2. Conceal your dislikes, hold your tongue, and 
watch for something better. Do all your work as well 
as possible and let quantity be secondary. Never think 
evil. 

3. Spend no money upon vices, tobacco, whiskey, 
nor upon "charity." If you fritter away money your 
earning capacity will be lessened. In lieu of "charity" 
give employment to those poorer than you whom you 
wish to benefit. 

4. Be strictly and absolutely honest even in secret. 
Let justice rule all your acts. Under no circumstances 
give or receive something for nothing. Never borrow 
nor lend money except with such security as a bank 
would require. 

5. Pay liberally for all you buy. Never beat down 
nor hunt cheap bargain counters. If you are liberal, 
everybody will be liberal with you. Never patronize 
peddlers of any kind, life or fire insurance agents, lot- 
teries, fairs, bazars, raffles or other doubtful specula- 
tions. 

6. Eat plain, wholesome food, especially fruit, nuts, 
cereals and pop-corn. Drink only water, the very 
weakest tea or coffee, chocolate or cocoa. 

7. Avoid paying rents. Own your home even 
if mortgaged to a building association. Dress as neatly 



60 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

and cleanly as anybody but avoid all ostentation in 
dress. 

8. Spend a reasonable amount for musical instru- 
ments, music, concerts and theatres. Buy as many books 
and periodicals as you can and will read and no more. 

9. Keep strictly aloof from all churches which pay 
salaries to ministers, but spend without fail all the 
hours devoted to church services in a dark room, alone, 
in concentration or in meditation. 

10. First, last and forever cultivate and obey intui- 
tion in all things, since it will lead you into all truth, 
then into wealth and health, and finally to happiness 
that the world knows not of. Remember that real 
causes are hidden and that what seem to be causes are 
often delusive. 

If the reason for any of these rules is not apparent, 
write for explanation but do not disobey. — Occult 
Times. 



No. 22 — Success as a Fine Art. 

The work, "The World Beautiful," by Lilian Whiting, 
has among its grand essays the following: 

Success in life is too largely and far too generally 
considered in the nature of special gifts or of excep- 
tional good fortune, of some unusual provision or 
combination in some way, rather than as a simple 
duty and the obligation of all intelligent and aspiring 
people; that is to say, it should be held as normal, and 
not the abnormal, condition. The defective classes in 
intellect or in morals are the only ones who do not 
rise to the level of being under this obligation. The 
idiot, the lunatic and the totally vicious are the special 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 61 

and exceptional in the great rank and file of humanity; 
and it is they alone who should not be held by public 
sentiment as under the law of success. 

For even the chronic invalid may make such a suc- 
cess of character — the only permanent form it takes — 
as to be a blessing, a benediction and an inspiration 
to all who come near. Physical deficiencies or afflic- 
tions of any kind do not put one outside this law, be- 
cause success is mental, moral and spiritual — a re- 
sult of fine qualities of mind and heart, of energy and 
of striving — and is therefore not in bonds to physical 
or material causes. Success then is simply a duty. It 
is the obligation of the many, and not the luxury of 
the few. 

"One thing is forever good — 
That one thing is success." 

To achieve success is not merely the gratification of 
a personal ambition, not merely a selfish endeavor; it 
is a moral duty and a very high responsibility. It is 
a personal obligation. Success is good. The tradi- 
tional talk about failures being often better than suc- 
cess, the traditional feeling that the successful man or 
woman is by that very achievement, more or less 
isolated from the average toiling, burdened masses of 
mankind; that, though success may imply a certain 
ability and keenness, its very realization is through 
some lack of consideration, some defect of sympathy, 
some self-centered power, that pushes on, regardless 
of those through whose ranks it makes its way — this 
conception of success is very far removed from the 
truth. To regard success as more or less synonymous 
with selfishness is to degrade it from anything like its 
real significance. 



62 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

No one has success until he has the abounding life. 
This is made up of the many-fold activity of energy, 
enthusiasm and gladness. It is to spring to meet the 
day with a thrill at being alive. It is to go forth to 
meet the morning in an ecstasy of joy. It is to realize 
the oneness of humanity in true spiritual sympathy. 
It is, indeed, that which one is ; not that which he does 
or which he has. And so all our usual conceptions of 
success fall infinitely short of the genuine thing. It is 
not necessarily success to be rich, or famous, or even 
popular, in the general acceptance of that term. These at- 
tributes and accidental things may or may not accom- 
pany success; but their presence does not make it, 
their absence does not take it away. 

It is amazing as it is sad, that we go about so largely 
burdening ourselves with strivings that are of no con- 
sequence, and miss the gladness and exhilaration of 
living. No life is successful until it is radiant. The 
King of Glory is always ready to come in. Why do 
we bar the way ? We cannot all live in palaces ; but we 
can all live in the kingdom of heaven, and the material 
luxuries of the one pale before the glow and thrill 
and exaltation of the other. 

The one great truth to which we all need to come is, 
that a successful life lies not in doing this, or going 
there, or possessing something else ; it lies in the quality 
of the daily life. It is just as surely success to be just 
and courteous to servants or companions or the chance 
comer, as it is to make a noted speech before an audi- 
ence, or write a book or make a million dollars. It is 
achievement on the spiritual side of things ; it is the ex- 
tension of our life here into the spiritual world that is 
alone of value. This extension is achieved, this growth 
toward higher things is attained, by our habitual atti- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 63 

tude of mind. It develops by truth and love and good- 
ness; it is stunted by every envious thought, every un- 
just or unkind act. The theatre of our actions may be 
public and prominent, or private and obscure. Our con- 
duct may be read of men, or it may hardly be known 
beyond the most limited circle. What then ? Does not one 
require moral health, spiritual loveliness for himself, 
as he does his physical health, and not merely for dis- 
play? One would prefer to be well rather than ill if 
he were alone on a desert island. Why not, as well, 
prefer to be spiritually abounding whether the world 
recognize it or not? 

"For to be carnally minded is death ; and to be 
spiritually minded is life and peace." Here we touch 
the profoundest truth of life. All the jar, the unrest, 
the friction, the unhappiness of life are inseparably 
related to the material plane. 

"To be carnally minded is death." But leave this; 
live the "life more abundant;" rise above selfishness 
and envy; rejoice in your neighbor's success, be glad 
in his gladness ; love what is lovely, whether your own 
or another's; in short, be "spiritually minded," and at 
once there is "life and peace," at once there is success 
in its profoundest significance. 

It is so possible to cultivate easy, cordial, friendly re- 
lations of reciprocal good-will to all whom one may 
meet. It is so possible to be glad in the gladness of 
other people; and, too, it is possible so to extend one's 
own life into higher regions that his happiness shall 
not be altogether dependent upon other people. He 
may come to realize the deep truth in the lines : 
"Seek not the Spirit, if it hold 
Inexorable to thy zeal; 
Trembler, do not whine or chide, 
Art thou not also real?" 



64 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

When one can gain this basis of actual reality in this 
life; when he can realize that first of all and above all 
are his relations to the unseen, his anchorage as a 
spirit to a spiritual world, developing his faculties as 
best he may — then he is prepared to be the truer and 
warmer and more steadfast friend, while yet less de- 
pendent on friendship than before. 

The only success worth the name is the achievement 
of this high spirituality. With it the beggar would be 
rich; without it, the king would be poor. This is "the 
thing forever good," the thing that may truly be called 
success. 



No. 23 — Keep Yourself in First Class Condition. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

Our condition largely determines the quality of our 
thought and action and it is, therefore, of the first 
importance in winning success that we keep ourselves 
well and in the right mental and spiritual mood. 

If the spiritual philosophy be true we impart some- 
thing of ourselves to every object we come in contact 
with. Hence our physical and mental conditions must 
be imparted to our work and when we are sick or men- 
tally or spiritually unbalanced, our work must neces- 
sarily partake of our imperfection. When physically 
ill or in any way unfitted for work we lessen our 
chances of success in two ways : first, our work must be 
less in quantity, and, secondly, inferior in quality. The 
clerk who has headache or nervousness because of late 
hours or intemperance of some kind will not only do 
less work but will in every detail of his work render an 
inferior quality of service. His hand-writing, composi- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 65 

tion, manner and language must all, necessarily, par- 
take of his imperfect condition. 

Particularly is this seen in those fields of labor where 
clear thought and proper sentiment should manifest 
themselves. Teachers, authors, ministers and all pub- 
lic speakers should give close attention to the physical 
and spiritual condition as the quality of their labor is 
very largely determined by condition. 

Many a day's teaching, many a lecture or sermon, 
and many an article for the press have been spoiled be- 
cause of some indulgence in eating or drinking, or 
some fit of passion, or some other element of inhar- 
mony, which has entered into the life. 

One who is running in the competitive race of mod- 
ern life for the prize, "Success," cannot afford to be 
handicapped with a rebellious stomach, a disorganized 
nervous system, or a bad temper, or a pessimistic view 
of men and things begotten by a torpid liver. 

Important as the physical condition is, the mental 
and spiritual mood is still more so if we wish to do 
the most and the best work possible. 

And then it must ever be borne in mind that wrong 
mental and spiritual conditions soon manifest them- 
selves in the physical body and unfit men for their 
highest endeavor and greatest work. 

A fit of anger is often followed by a severe cold 
and yet but few men are sufficiently acquainted with the 
intimate relationships between mental and physical 
conditions to trace their illness to the correct cause. 

The mind should be preserved in a state of equa- 
nimity, no storm of passion being allowed to break up 
its serenity, and a feeling of cheerfulness and optimism 
should be assiduously cultivated until it becomes 
habitual. 



66 SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 

Diet, sleep, exercise and recreation should all re- 
ceive attention. We can no more afford to neglect our- 
selves in our eagerness for success than the engineer 
whose boat or train is in a race can afford to neglect 
his engine. 

Keep yourself in "A-i" condition if you want to 
win the prize, "Success." 



No. 24 — Fidelity to Principle. 

BY B. F. AUSTIN, B. A. 

I am quite aware that the popular impression is op- 
posed to the view I am to advocate in this lesson and 
that multitudes believe they must depart from strict 
principles of truth and honesty if they win success 
in business. 

I maintain, however, that even in a business career 
honesty pays and its average rewards are larger, all 
things considered, than can be obtained through a 
course of prevarication and deceit. "Honesty is the 
best policy," it is said, but the man who is honest for 
that reason only is in reality a dishonest man. 

There are "tricks of trade" by which men abandoning 
principle may reap in business, in politics and in the 
professions, a temporary advantage, it must be admitted, 
but the advantage secured at the loss of self respect 
is a doubtful one — one that weakens the character — 
and is liable at any moment to be offset by the disad- 
vantages of discovery of the wrong-doing. 

The business man whose goods are not as represented, 
the professional man whose promises or represen- 
tations are not verified and the politician who resorts 
to bribery or fraud, are in constant danger of discov- 



SUCCESS AND HOW TO WIN IT. 67 

ery and punishment. If their temporary gains or suc- 
cesses surpass for a time the gains or success of an 
honest competitor, they are dearly purchased by the 
fears endured and the injury inflicted upon themselves. 

The man whose "word is as good as his bond," 
whose cloth is always a full yard in width, whose prom- 
ises are exactly fulfilled, draws to him the confidence 
and love of men and lays a solid foundation for suc- 
cess. A business or profession or reputation founded 
on the love and practice of truth and sterling honesty 
in deal is . like a house founded on a rock, while the 
success of the dishonest man is like a house founded 
on sand and awaiting the destruction of the whirl- 
wind. 

This age is said to be honeycombed with dishonesty 
and we are told there are few honest business men or 
honest men in public life. It is the duty of everyone 
to deny and resent this slander upon our age. Doubt- 
less there is much dishonesty and double-dealing and 
if we fix our gaze upon this and search society we 
can constantly find much that is abhorrent to truth and 
right. 

But let us remember that for one man who fraud- 
ulently cheats his creditors many honest men pay 
their obligations. For one clerk who robs his mas- 
ter's till and runs away, how many render faithful 
honest service. For one person who lapses from vir- 
tue how many live pure lives. There never was before 
so much of honor and principle and truth in public 
and private life as now. 

Humanity is growing in the love and practice of 
virtue, and as we cultivate truth and righteousness in 
our public and private life we are laying the true foun- 
dations of success both in character-building and in 
the respect and esteem of our fellow men. 



JUN 3 1904 






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